If you haven’t already read my post on trialing florist chrysanthemums, you might not know just how passionate I am about mums.

I really am though. Coming at a time of year when I’m usually burnt out and ready to give up on the season, they are a welcome burst of fresh floral excitement at a time of year when everything else is winding down for the season. They come in the perfect fall colors too - rust, burgundy, gold, dusky purple and rose and light pinks that are incredibly elegant and rustic.

Chrysanthemums had always been a controversial topic in our house.

I don’t think we could ever really justify growing mums for cut flower production due to the fact that they were so ubiquitous and cheap from the wholesaler in the fall - and having to not go through disbudding and staking for production would always be a plus to reduce the amount of labor for producing flowers.

We decided to compromise, and I ended up purchasing some plants this year to run a trial. They took a long time to get going, but eventually they started blooming at the end of September - and I was able to assess them as far as productivity, appearance, and productivity.

While you may have read my previous post on fall perennials to start from seed, I wanted to go a little bit more in depth about our favorite flowers to grow for spring blooms - and flowers that should be in your repertoire as a flower farmer.

There are a lot of flowers to grow for spring - many delightful and beautiful and delicate blooms explode into color in the late spring/early summer time period, many of which are beloved by brides, floral designers and customers alike.

A solid spring of cut flower material and sales is important to flower farmers - after a long and cold and dark winter without much to cut and sell, you want to be ready to hit the ground running when spring comes around. Customers are ravenously hungry for flowers and color and anything fresh and alive, and if you can supply that demand you will start off the season with a good flush of flower sales.

Pineapple lilies sound like some sort of bizarre made-up flower until you see them in person.

But once you see them, you’ll never forget them. Big, strappy, tropical foliage in a large rosette with large flower stalks erupting from the center that beg for you to look at them. They look unreal - as if they were some sort of alien species that had invaded earth.

Best of all? They are actually pretty hardy plants. With good drainage and either mild winters or excellent insulation (through either mulch or snow cover) they will come back year after year, bigger and better and with more stems and flowers.